Socialization of the Russian Civil Law as the Basis of its Modernization

The paper substantiates the conclusion that the main direction for the modernization of civil law now is reflected in its socialization, which leads to the incorporation of public interests into the legislation to a greater extent than it is at present. In this regard, it is necessary to solve the problem of socialization of private property, which, in turn, will allow enshrining the provision concerning the social purpose of entrepreneurial activities in the legislation.

Civil law socialization will also make it necessary to change approaches to defining the principles of civil law. Paragraph 1 of Art. 1 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation provides for a list of foundations (principles) of civil law, but this list does not have any unifying ground that would allow us to assert the existence of a system of civil law principles, and it does not bear an expressed social burden. The paper substantiates the conclusion that the principle of the social state should be considered as a unifying principle promoting the principle of solidarity that, in turn, gives rise to the principles of good faith and justice.

The paper also draws attention to the digitalization of public life, which has given rise to new problems. One of such problems includes compensation for harm caused to citizens and legal entities by devices, machines, etc. with artificial intelligence constituting not increased, but special danger for others, that should also include special responsibility. The special danger herein is preconditioned by the use of artificial intelligence, the possibility of its intended actions, for example, due to failures in the program or unauthorized change of the program from the outside. To this end, similar to the provision of Art. 1079 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, strict (no-fault) liability must be imposed on the persons concerned. The liability should not be individual, that is, the liability of an entity exploiting a device under consideration, but solidary one applied to all persons taking part in the work on artificial intelligence.

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